The nowhere adventure ........ out of Peckham and on till morning

Now I say on till morning, but the adventure will have started sometime just before mid day and would have all been over in a few hours.

Me in 1959

Our trip to the small park on East Dulwich Road is all but a vague memory but then it was almost sixty years ago, and I have no recollection of whether we made a deliberate decision to go there or it was just the end of a long walk.

And a walk it would have been, starting from Lausanne Road, and by degree, along Evelina Road, past Nunhead Green, and Peckham Rye.

Back then, walking was what we did, often with a vague idea of a destination but not always.

On this day we may have been heading for the Common, and then just pushed on with that optimistic observation that “it is always better to travel than arrive”.

What we found was a small Corporation play area, with a mix of play furniture.  There will have been a roundabout, a rocking horse which seated eight, a seesaw, a slide and swings.

I do remember it was wet and having exhausted all the damp attractions we headed home.

That water trough,  1928

Now, anyone who has ventured “out of district” will know that there is always a slight tension in that you are on someone else’s turf and while kids are kids and just want to get on with playing there can be those sticky moments when you are seen to be “on the trespass”.

That and the dampness will I think have done for the adventure.  After all we were at the limits of our known world, and there was always the long walk back, which I now know was not that long.

When I started the story I assumed the distance between our house on Lausanne Road and the park was quite some distance, but it is only just over a mile and according to the AA Route planner would take just six minutes in a car.

Banfield's, circa 1960

Of course it would have taken us longer, more so because of the obligatory stops along the way which will have included the horse trough at the start of Evelina Road, Nunhead Gardens, and a lingering look at the coaches in the depot by Banfield Road.

And no nine year could ever pass Peckham Rye Common without a couple of races, and roll in the grass.

Such was the nowhere adventure.

Location; East Dulwich

Pictures; me, aged ten, 1959 from the collection of Andrew Simpson &Evelina Road, circa 1920-26, and Banfield  Garage, circa 1960s supplied by Adrian Parfitt

The Prefab Challenge ............... saving our shared heritage

Now someone will have written the book on the prefab, but I wonder if anyone has documented just where all of them were in south east London?

Judging by the responses to a story I ran on the prefab on Lordship Lane, there were lots, which given the shortage of houses after the last war will be a surprise to no one.*

But back then we were grateful that they were being built and during the next two decades of peace took these instant homes for granted.

Now, most have gone and soon a part from OS maps and dusty plans hidden away in City and Borough archives the evidence of where they were will be lost forever, and that is a shame.

So it needs someone who like me loves prefabs but also lives in south east London and has the time to do the business.

So there it is ........ the Prefab Challenge ...... just get in touch and will send the data, and with luck there should be a few stories along with some more copyright free pictures of prefabs.

Location; East Dulwich

Picture; the Prefab, Lordship Lane, 2018, courtesy of Rosie Jones.

A prefab ...... now that's a zippy title

Now the chances are, if you grew up in the 1950s you either lived in one or knew someone who lived in a prefab.

They were our answer to the housing shortage after the last war and have become one of those iconic images of the post war period.

My friend Colin lived in one, but I can’t remember now exactly where.

I have a vague memory of it being on one of those long roads off Erlanger, Pepys, or Jerningham Roads but I can’t remember. 

I did go looking, hoping that there may be a clue in a modern block of flats, but so far I have drawn a blank.

Still someone may know.

In the meantime I now have my own copyright free picture of a prefab, sent to me by Rosie Jones.

Rosie had responded to a story about one of my adventures in East Dulwich and commented that “I recently walked from West Norwood to East Dulwich, which was exciting even at my age. This prefab on Lordship Lane took my eye”.

And it has taken mine.

So a little bit of our joint past bounces back.

Location; East Dulwich

Picture; the Prefab, Lordship Lane, 2018, courtesy of Rosie Jones.

*The nowhere adventure ........ out of Peckham and on till morning, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-nowhere-adventure-out-of-peckham.html